When I connected with Ganesha - in New Zealand
New Zealand is known for its natural beauty, cricket and All Blacks. But this Indian business executive realized the essence of Hinduism there, through Ganesha.
Last month while the world celebrated Ganesh Chathurthi, there was a debate going on in India mostly among the so-called educated Hindu middle class. On the surface of it, their position was simple: Ganesha is a Hindu god and the idea of Ganesha and its depiction is also owned by Hindus and it should not be meddled with.
In one instance, an engineer-turned-artistic photographer friend who was busy trying to get a shot of a kingfisher taking off from a pond in the bushes in northern Kerala suddenly remembered it was Ganesh Chathurthi and sitting in the bushes, used his sophisticated hi-tech camera to quickly make a caricature of Ganesha -- the ears formed by distorting the camera body, the nose using the zoom lens and tip of the lens hood -- and sent it around on social media wishing Ganesh Chathurthi to his friends. What followed was an avalanche of anger bordering abuse. He was stumped, in part because he happened to be a non-Hindu and it was suggested that he purposely mocked Ganesha. The angry responses questioned whether members of other faiths would accept it if anyone made fun of their holy books or gods and broadcast those on social media....
Read more at: http://english.manoramaonline.com